Taiwan residents spread community spirit in Xiamen's refurbished villages

A bright future

In 2016, Lu and a friend moved to Xiamen to start a business importing wine.

However, a lack of resources made it difficult for them to operate on the mainland.

"I enjoy adventures and trying new things. Soon after I arrived, though, I realized I needed to start over, but I didn't even have any friends here," Lu said.

In 2017, when he learned about the assistant's job, he was very interested, but he was not eligible because he lacked experience of community-building work.

However, he was given a job last year after the requirement for experience dropped during a new round of recruitment.

"It has provided a way of learning about the needs of local people and helped me make more friends," he said.

He has also formed contacts with local businesspeople and invited them to perform charity work in the community.

In October, he persuaded the CEO of a local tech company to hold a workshop where children were taught to make model planes, complete with engines. He has also arranged for entertainers to provide dance workshops in local communities.

"In Taiwan, it is common for companies to do charity work, but that's not really the case on the mainland, so I have tried to interest local businesspeople in the concept. Negotiating with them is challenging, but also very interesting," he said.

Before she moved to the mainland, Huang worked for a company in Taiwan that provided community-building services.

"Taiwan has had community-building programs for more than 20 years. Now, the mainland is developing rapidly and many rundown villages have been demolished. That means there is a need for projects to upgrade and build communities, so my job has a bright future," she said.

Huang is happy to see the transformations taking place, especially when the younger children take new friends to see the images they have drawn on the walls of the activity center she built from the abandoned kitchen.

"One day, a kid asked me why he couldn't find his Pikachu," she said. "He had drawn the cartoon character on the wall, but he couldn't see it. Eventually we realized that it was still there, but a parked car was blocking the view."